Water leak into footwell - dodgy seal info and DIY repair guide (Image links dead)

aBoijj

Active Member
May 20, 2009
104
1
Midlands
If there's any chance that it could be coming through from the boot area, take up the boot carpet and sprinkle some talcum power around the area to see if you can find where it is coming from. My rear light clusters seems to be letting in water and it is dribbling into the spare wheel well, creating quite a pool of water at times; I'm convinced it is contributing to my windows being coated in water at times. I'm going to reseal them when I get a couple of hours free on a dry day. I'm just as convinced though that I must have another leak as well, one thing at a time though.
 

phizzandlil

Divers go deeper!
Feb 22, 2009
23
0
Nr Gatwick
Hey all,
Roof lining is down now and it's not the aerial base, it's clean.
However I can now see where water appears to be coming from in a seam in the corner of the roof, it then runs down the inside of the rear C pillar (dirty drip marks) and onto the inside lip of the wheel arch, then forward to run down into the rear drivers foot well. Will post some pics in a mo.

Guessing this could be from the roof rack or from the boot hinge recesses. Going to see if I can find out more from using the garden hose.
Any help or ideas appreciated?
Thanks...
 

phizzandlil

Divers go deeper!
Feb 22, 2009
23
0
Nr Gatwick
Couple of pics of the offending areas:


How do the plastic rivets come out? I've broken one so far.

Running water over the roof and it comes dripping from this weld. Would I be right in assuming no water should get in here and that its best to seal up the inside of the hinge compartment?
Thanks
 

phizzandlil

Divers go deeper!
Feb 22, 2009
23
0
Nr Gatwick
After some strategic pouring I've isolated the root cause to be the weld at the bottom of the hinge compartment on the body. Sealed with silicon and will test again tomorrow. If that doesn't work I'll break out the blackwitch neoprene glue!
Thanks everyone for your ideas and help.
 

Suschef

Active Member
Apr 24, 2017
105
0
Has anyone got the original pictures from this thread going to strip and seal all the doors and pictures would help!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

Marv-95

Active Member
Dec 30, 2010
154
0
Southampton, Hampshire

Suschef

Active Member
Apr 24, 2017
105
0
Hi Suschef,

I believe pics are here:-

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?p=3255716#post3255716

It's also worth doing the Pollen Filter whilst the weather is good... I used Silicone but you can buy the butyl tape if you really want to.

This is what I did to my Pollen Filter which stopped the flooding I used to get in the rear footwell.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153141873259948.1073741845.751584947&type=1&l=969fea9189

Cheers
Marv
Thank you for that, I've ordered the sealing cord, hopefully i don't break to many clips!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

Marv-95

Active Member
Dec 30, 2010
154
0
Southampton, Hampshire
I ordered some clips on ebay. I think I broke 2x when I did my side.

I think water comes in via under the Pollen Filter more than the doors. There is butyl tape under that too but I found that the 2x screws that push the seal down are not strong enough to provide that seal.

No worries - have fun - oh and if you do decide to take the seat out as I did and disconnect your Airbag light will stay on and will need to be reset. I think people disconnect the battrey to stop that... but when you disconnect the battrey you lose the settings for the radio so you need to know the code to set the radio. (if that makes sense)
 

CupraMark

Active Member
Jul 1, 2016
17
0
Well I suppose SOMEONE has to keep this thread going! :D:D

I've done the door seal carrier thing 3 times in the past 2 weeks because of wet sills.

1. Driver's door of my Octavia which is dry after heavy rain all day today.
2. Driver's door of my MK1 Leon. Still dry.
BUT
3. Rear driver's side door of the Leon, sill still getting wet when it rains.

I had the door card off yesterday and poured water down the outside of the door and couldn't see any problem with the repair I done so I dunno where it's getting in.
If I was to guess I'd say it's coming in at the top of the door and running in between the door frame and door.
Are there any other common areas for the car to let water in?
 

Marv-95

Active Member
Dec 30, 2010
154
0
Southampton, Hampshire
On my rear doors I had water gathering on the sill. I found that it was pooling on the sill and then worked its way under the rubber door seal that goes around the door. I pulled the rubber seal of the bottom sill and siliconed in the groove then pushed it back on after cleaning it. I also checked that the door drip holes weren't clogged on the bottom of the door.
 

verbal_kint

Active Member
Apr 15, 2010
639
31
North West Kent
Use paper to work out where it is getting in. You can lift the seals and slide paper under but obviously don't let the paper go to places where it should get wet before draining off.

Marv-95's comment about the drip holes is absolutely spot on. The guides say about the water rising over the carriers and past the seal but if the flow out is free then the problem lessens. Clean out the folding rubber seal at the base of the door, that can get very stiff from years of use and the crud that collects there I used silicone lubricant to help keep it supple. While it's out clear the drain holes. I even cut a little section of the seal out under the drip holes to encourage free flow.
 
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Aeroelastic

Active Member
Jul 31, 2017
1
0
Hi I cant see the pictures in page 1, anyone has them? I am interested in the locations of the drain holes at the bottom of the dppr and the cross section of how water flow down the door and out...

thanks.
 

patmore

Active Member
Oct 30, 2017
3
0
Water in drivers footwell golf mk4

I am a 65 year old grandmother. Trying to solve a long standing problem with water in my drivers footwell - a lot of water. i have been using towels and newspaper to soak up water every day for 18 months. I have a problem with keyfob disconnecting immobiliser but not actually opening drivers door but does all the others. Also had a problem with brake light warning coming on but that stopped. Passed 2 MOT's. I then lost the trip part of my display and have an engine light showing. Was intermittent now on all the time but garage cant find a problem.
I have read dozens of pages. Following a really good guide, I have taken off the inside bit of drivers door - looked clean and no water marks. Cleaned under the rubber seal on bottom of door and checked drainage holes were clear. Cleaned out leaves in shuttle and under wheel arch flap - all ok. then checked sunroof and threaded a wire through and squeezed nipples in door jamb. Poured water into sunroof channels and it went down ok. Checked under battery but it's at the front of engine and all in engine looks dry and free from leaves etc.
Went back to sunroof as noticed water was under car and not coming out of nipple but was coming out of corrugated rubber between door and car (carrying wires). Prised nipple grommet from body carefully and poked fingers in small hole and could feel drainage tube was NOT connected to the rubber grommet.
Eureka. Found a video where a guy showed how to use a wire through drainage channel and to poke out of hole for grommet to enable fitting grommet back over the tube. Smeared some washing up liquid inside grommet and end of tube. There is not a lot of room to get fingers in the hole. I also cut off the end of the pinched flange on the grommet as it seemed to hamper the flow of debris. Now the water is running out of the grommet fine from both front sides of the sun roof channel.
The back washer does not work but no water in the back at all.

Sorry for the long explanation. Right so now I want to dry under the carpets where there is a thick soundproofing mat. i have read on some forums that there are boxes under both passenger carpets and drivers - CCM's. Other forums have not mentioned this fact so not sure about that.

Problem now is that I cannot find any clear instructions on how to just lift up the front carpets and cut out the soundproofing mat to dry and check the pond is drying up. I really do not want to take off battery and remove seats etc. It's an old car and does it's job getting me from A to B but my grandson and his mates keep moaning about the smell.

So can anyone tell me how to remove or lift the plastic door trim on the sill, the bonnet catch trim, and any other bits to just get the carpet to lift up enough. Also are there any plugs in the floor to allow drainage? Should they be left in or out?

I appreciate any help as on a pension and cannot afford to take to garage.
 

Marv-95

Active Member
Dec 30, 2010
154
0
Southampton, Hampshire
Hi Patmore,

Most of the problems I think will be because of the damp. My water ingress was mainly coming in via under the Pollen Filter (above the battery - top right engine bay) which has the same foam that degrades over time. It is really a job to do in the Summer.

I cut out the underlay and dried it outside I also used talc to check for Water Ingress.

I took photos of each stage if you want to check them out - there are also good guides on here for removing the plastic for the doors.

Please see:-

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153141873259948.1073741845.751584947&type=1&l=969fea9189

I hope you can get access to my photos. Hope it helps.

Can you tell me if you can see the Photos.

Marv
 
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patmore

Active Member
Oct 30, 2017
3
0
Water problem

Hello Marv, many thanks for quick reply.

Yes photos are good. Thanks. I see you had water in the passenger side. Mine is in the drivers side. I need to know how to remove the trims inside the footwell. Seems to have hidden screws. Have done the drivers door. The pollen filter is on the right side of the engine from the front of the car and leaks into passenger side as I understand it. My passenger side is dry. I did look into the pollen filter just as a matter of making sure but it's all dry in the engine compartment.

If I manage to take off the bonnet release handle and that bit of plastic, does the door opening sill strip have any screws or just clipped? Would that give me enough to lift up the carpet and fold back.
 

Marv-95

Active Member
Dec 30, 2010
154
0
Southampton, Hampshire
Hi - yeah sorry I didn't have to do my drivers side... I only had to take the trim that covers the seat belt and then the trim that goes along the bottom of the door (and yes there are screws there). That runs along to the trim where your feet are which I think is clipped (there maybe 1x screw but Im not sure)

Drivers side next to the door release handle - no idea - sorry. There are some how to do's on here but I can't recall seeing them for the drivers side trim. You will have to wait for someone else to reply - apologies.

On my pics I did show you a hole/grommet that water might be coming in on drivers side in the engine bay (which you could seal) - Good Luck!!

Marv
 

Suz

Active Member
Feb 15, 2017
6
0
Dorset
Wet footwells

Sorry to be a pain, I'm new to the whole fixing things on your car yourself. So I've got two extremely wet rear footwells in my Leon MK1. No sign of leakage anywhere other than when I open the doors in the morning(when it's rained) there is often some water that leaks out. Is this thread what I should be following?
 

verbal_kint

Active Member
Apr 15, 2010
639
31
North West Kent
Sorry to be a pain, I'm new to the whole fixing things on your car yourself. So I've got two extremely wet rear footwells in my Leon MK1. No sign of leakage anywhere other than when I open the doors in the morning(when it's rained) there is often some water that leaks out. Is this thread what I should be following?

The guides here will show you how to do the work.

Redoing the door seals is not complicated as such, just a pain to get the bits out of the way to scrape the old perished foam out and replace with butyl strip for a proper job or use the same to go round the outside edge of the carrier plate.

It helps to include a broad location in your profile. You never know, someone may be close and happy to give a hand.